Chennai Super Kings' new captain Ruturaj Gaikwad revealed on Friday that MS Dhoni had hinted about his decision to hand over the team's leadership to him last year itself.
Dhoni stepped down as IPL's most successful captain just a day before the first match between CSK and Royal Challengers Bengaluru. He will be playing just as a wicketkeeper and lower-order batter in IPL 2024.
The franchise then announced Gaikwad as the new captain of CSK. He will be the third skipper to lead the team after Dhoni and Ravindra Jadeja, who was named captain for the first few matches of IPL 2022.
But repeated defeats in the first 8 games saw Dhoni take the captaincy back from Jaddu.
Gaikwad's big repsonsibility
Gaikwad will have massive shoes to fill now as he is replacing a captain who won the IPL title a record-equalling five times. Dhoni also lifted two Champions League T20 trophies before the tournament was discontinued.
He got a rousing reception from the capacity crowd inside the stadium at the toss.
"Feel priveledged. But I want to try and be in my shoes, not fill anybody's shoes. (On captaincy) I got to know last week, but Mahi bhai hinted at it last year," Gaikwad said after losing the toss.
His counterpart Faf du Plessis got it right at the toss and had no hesitation in batting first against CSK at the MA Chidambaram Stadium. RCB haven't defeated CSK at this venue since IPL 2009.
CSK vs RCB Playing XIs:
Royal Challengers Bengaluru: Faf du Plessis (c), Virat Kohli, Rajat Patidar, Glenn Maxwell, Cameron Green, Dinesh Karthik, Anuj Rawat (wk), Karn Sharma, Alzarri Joseph, Mayank Dagar, Mohammed Siraj
Chennai Super Kings: Ruturaj Gaikwad (c), Rachin Ravindra, Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, M.S. Dhoni (wk), Deepak Chahar, Maheesh Theekshana, Mustafizur Rahman, Tushar Deshpande
